As Best Self Atlanta’s 30 Days of Fitness nears its end, I was excited for my last workout at Fitness Firm Studio in Sandy Springs. This workout with Randy Nicholson, who has a background as a professional kickboxer and trainer, was unlike any other workout I’ve done before. First off, Fitness Firm has a very “community” feel to it. It seemed like everyone in the class had known each other and Randy for years—some of them have!—and that is something I really enjoyed. Some fitness classes it can feel like you’re just a number, but at Fitness Firm Studio, the personal interaction was something I thought that really set it apart from other workouts.

Another unique aspect was a gadget Randy created about nine years ago: the Active Health Roller. The Active Health Roller allows you to strategically “roll out” trigger and pain points which cause limitations to the body. It is used to eliminate pain and maintain a healthy body by increasing blood flow and releasing toxins from heavily used muscles. I used the roller on both my calves and thighs. The feeling was a good pain to my muscles, almost like a deep tissue massage.

Best Self staffer Aubrey and Fitness Firm Studio trainer Randy

The Active Health Roller gives you a good idea of what to expect on the inside of Fitness Firm Studio. Randy has taken his own spin on traditional exercises, with lots of gadgets he’s created himself! There is everything from PVC pipes, foot scrubs (the covering that doctors would wear on their feet), cut-up foam rollers, and even a beer keg that was incorporated into this workout. This class was small compared to Randy’s other classes, but was nice because he focused a lot on my form and what I needed to fix to get the most out of my workout. Every person was at a station where we did timed interval training. There was a buzzer in the gym that guided us through a workout for 30 seconds, then a 10 second break. We did three rounds of each station that worked all muscle groups and cardio. I was never bored, and the exercises went by really quickly! I was always interested in what my next station would be, since this gym is so non-traditional.

The hardest part of the workout for me was an exercise Randy called “The Running Man.” You put your body in a raised plank position by putting your forearms on an aerobics step platform. From there, your feet are on the foot scrubs which slide on the rubber floor. When the buzzer goes off, you bring your knees to your inner elbows to get a incredible core workout. I’ve done many planks in other classes, but this felt like a plank times 10! My abs were on fire!

The most enjoyable part of the workout was exercise we did to work the hamstrings. I was laying on my back and put my heels into a swinging piece of PCV pipe that was attached from the roof. I then lifted my hips off the ground, straightened my legs, then brought my knees in to work both of my hamstrings. Typically, I do my hamstring workouts on the stability ball at the gym, but this workout I could feel I was solely worked my hamstrings instead of engaging other muscles groups to stabilize on the ball.

If you are looking for a non-traditional workout, but with an emphasis on exercises for pain-management, go see Randy at Fitness Firm Studio! The clientele ranges from Olympic-trained athletes to men and women who are over 60.